Even with recent years’ relative lack of success on the pitch in the scope of their illustrious history, Man United are a commercial behemoth – as illustrated by their latest sponsorship deal.
Income from sponsorship, merchandise, events and other commercial streams totalled £303m in 2022-23, the last financial year for which full data is publicly available.
Commercial income has doubled over the last decades and shows no signs of slowing down. In their Q2 results for the 2023-24, the club said they were on track for record turnover.
United’s aborted front-of-shirt partnership with TeamViewer was cited by some analysts as a reflection of a brand that has lost some of its shine in recent years.
But in truth, the software company terminated the commercial alliance because of macroeconomic factors, not because United are not still a blue-chip sponsorship prospect.
United’s world record, £900m, 10-year deal with Adidas is testament to the resilience of the brand.
Ed Woodward viewed green ink on the balance sheet as a better metric of success than silver in the trophy cabinet, but he was right about one thing: United don’t need to win trophies to remain rich.
And while the former CEO’s rhetoric was misguided, commercial revenue has a direct impact on Erik ten Hag‘s recruitment and retention budget in the age of PSR.
The latest from the news from the commercial department will, therefore, likely be welcome by United fans keen to see the club flex their muscles in the closing throes of the summer transfer window.
- READ MORE: Premier League PSR rules explained: Man Utd spending restrictions and punishments club could face
Man United sign first ever back-of-shirt deal, expand Snapdragon partnership
Front-of-shirt rights are typically one of the most valuable sponsorship classes in a club’s portfolio – and few are as valuable as United’s.
In September last year, United sold their rights to Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon brand will feature on United’s shirts for the first time in a Premier League game in the match against Fulham tonight.
The San Diego-headquartered semiconductor firm pay United a reported £60m per season for the privilege.
Now, as relayed industry publication Sportcal, the deal has been expanded to give Qualcomm the rights to promote brands they power on the back of United’s shirts.
The augmentation of the partnership will see Microsoft CoPilot+ PCs become United’s first back-of-shirt sponsor for women’s and academy games, as well as matches in the FA Cup and League Cup.
Notably, the deal does not cover Man United’s appearances in the Premier League or Europa League.
Domestic league matches accounted for 63.3 per cent of United’s total games last term (including increasingly lucrative friendlies).
That’s a lot of unavailable brand exposure CoPilot and will have correlative effect on the overall value of the deal.
With that said, the estimated worth of this expanded element of the partnership is still likely to be a respectable £2-3m, with likely bonuses for progression in the sponsored competitions.
Significantly, since news of the CoPilot deal emerged, United have announced a two-year extension of the Snapdragon deal.
UEFA and Premier League sponsorship rules – will back-of-shirt ever be allowed?
Currently, neither the Premier League nor UEFA permit clubs to have back-of-shirt sponsors.
This is likely a measure from both organisations to protect the value of their own brands – minimalism is the defining trend of marketing in the 2020s.
However, on a club-by-club basis, the likes of United would likely bank a low eight-figure sum if back-of-shirt rights were permitted by both organisations.
They would point to the the explosion in the value of sleeve sponsorship rights, which were once considered a minor asset, as case in point.
And the front-of-shirt gambling ban which is likely to lead to a seller’s market in the sponsorship sector, further driving up the potential price point of back-of-shirt rights.
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